Improvement in pill-machines



C. W. Le COUNT.

PILL-MACHINE. No.175,470. Patented March 28,1876.

Witnesses.

CHARLES W. LE COUNT, OF SOUTH NORWALK, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN PILL-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of- Letters Patent No. 175.470, dated March 28, 1876; application filed March 11, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. LE COUNT, of South Norwalk, in the county of. Fairlield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and Improved Apparatus for Dividing PilLMass for the Manufacture of Pills; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which forms part of this specification.

My invention relates to machines or apparatus to be used by druggists for dividing pillmass into equal parts, to be rolled subsequently into pills, and is more especially intefided for use in making up prescriptions of pi s. v

The invention consists, partly, in cutters which act in combination with slots and grooves in a table or tileto divide a cylinder or roll of pill-mass into equal parts, as hereinafter set forth, said equal parts being longer or shorter according to the desired size of the pills, and the slots in the table serving to clean the cutters and separate the pills from the cutters, to which the pills would otherwise adhere. The invention also consists, partly, in grooves formed in the table or tile used for rolling into cylindrical form the mass to be divided and formed into pills, such grooves acting in combination with the slots, also formed in the table, to measure and assist in apportioning the doughy cylinder into equal parts, which may be cut asunder either by a spatula or other independent cutter, or by the aforementioned cutters pivoted to the table. The invention further consists in two or more sets of cutters, of different lengths, attached to the same shaft or stock, which act in combination with two or more series of grooves at difi'erent distances from such shaft or stock, to divide a cylinder of plastic material into equal portions- The inventionvalso consists in a stop, which acts in combination with the slots in the table or tile to measure the equal lengths into which the cylindrical mass is to be cut, and also to measure the length of a cylinder which will divide into the number of pills required to be made of a prescribed quantity of the mixture.

Figure l in the accompanying drawing represents a top view of my machlne for preparing. pills. Fig. 2. is a section of the same through the line wa Fig. 3 is a sectional detail, showing more plainly the cutters and arrangement of the slots, and a cross-section of the grooves in the table or tile.

T is the table or tile, preferably made of metal, but which may be made of other material. This table is provided with legs at the corners, and has i;s upper surface made smooth and flat, with the exception of one or more grooves, g 9', preferably parallel to the shaft or stock B of the cutters c c. In one edge of the table are formed one or more series of slots, 8 s, the slots in each series being of. a different length from thosein the other series, and the width of the slots being as nearly as practicable equal to the thickness of the cutters which work in said slots, as hereinafter specified. When thecutters c 0 pass through the slots 8 s the sides of said slots scrape off and clean away any material that adheres to the said cutters. The slots in each series of the same intersect one or more of the grooves g g. The cutters c c are all made fast, preferably to a rock-shaft or oscillating stock, B, and are preferably formed of sickle-shaped pieces of sheet metal, arranged in one or more series upon the said shaft or. stock B, the cutters in each series being of lengths corresponding to the lengths of the slots in the series of slots in which the said cutters work. The cutter-stock or rockshaft B oscillates iii bearings formed on the bottom of the table, preferably between the grooves and that edge of the table lying nearest to the grooves. The said rock-shaft or cutter-stock B is actuated preferably by a crank-lever, L; but I do not confine myself to this construction.

The cutterstock may be madein some cases to play in guideways, to move the cutters rectilinearly in the said slots, if desired; or

a hand-cutter may be employed in place of the series of cutters c 0 arranged on the cutterstock B. And, instead of making the cutters of sheet metal, Wire cutters stretched in a frame may be employed, said wire cutters working in the slots 0 0. And, instead of pivoting the cutter-stock to the table when the same is made oscillating, as hereinbefore described, it may have its bearings in a separate piece held in a fixed relation to the said table by means of suitable mechanism.

The slots 0 c, in each series of the same, are placed at equal distances from each other, and preferably in such manner that the longer slot 8 shall alternate with the short ones 5 when two series of slots are used, and in such case the longer cutters c on the cutter-stock B alternate with the shorter cutters 0.

At one or both ends of each series of slots, which are numbered after the manner 'of a scale, I place a stop, a, against which one end of the plastic cylinder to be cut in uniformlysized pieces is placed. The uniformly spaced and numbered slots form a measuring-scale to determine whether the cylinder has been rolled to the proper length to divide equally into the number of pills required. When the length of the cylinder is found to be correct, the said cylinder is placed in one or other of the grooves g g, and by means of the crank- Iever L the cutters 0 0 attached to the stock 3, to which the said crank-lever is also attached, are caused to oscillate down through the slots 8 s, by which action the plastic cylinder is cut into the desired number of equal parts.

I claim- 1. The combination of the cutters c c and the slots 8 s formedin the table T, constructed and operating substantially as herein described.

2. The combination of the grooves g g, the slots 8 s, and the cutters a 0, substantially as herein described.

3. The combination, with slots in the tabl or tile, of two or more sets of cutters c c of different lengths attached to the same shaft or stock, substantially as herein set forth.

4. The combination of the stop or stops at with slots 8 s in the table T, to form a graduated scale, substantially as herein set forth.

CHARLES LE COUNT.

Witnesses:

T. FARRAR BURKE, WILLIAM WARDEN. 

